Is the rent received from a barber shop halal?

Q: My dad has a shop which he has rented to a barber shop, my father had no idea if that money would be haraam, now he has given his word and that person has bought all the equipment’s for his saloon and renovated the shop. what the ruling of this money earned?

الجواب حامدا ومصليا ومسلما ومنه الصدق والصواب

A: There are two elements to your question. Firstly, renting a property to one who will engage in an unlawful activity. Secondly, the status of the rent received. As for the first, the basic principle is that if one rents out a property of generic nature, i.e. it can be used for various purposes, then according to Imam Abu Hanifa it is permitted to rent out the property irrespective of how the tenant utilises the property. The rationale of Imam Abu Hanifah is that the rental contract is for the usufruct of the property and this, of it itself, carries no sin. Once the tenant has been granted access the rental becomes payable which is evidence that the rental contract is for the usufruct. What the tenant does after that of his own volition cannot be attributed to the owner. However, Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad [and also Imam Malik, Imam Shafi’ee and Imam Ahmad] hold this to be assisting in sin and any rental income earned therefrom is unlawful. As for the second element to your question, if the entire income of the tenant is unlawful and he pays the rent specifically from that income, it is not permitted for the owner to receive rent from there. Equally, if the majority of his income is unlawful and it is not differentiated from his lawful income, the same rule applies. If the majority of his income is lawful despite not being differentiated from his unlawful income, or the lawful income is differentiated from the unlawful income even if it constitutes the minority and he pays the rent from the lawful income then, according to Imam Abu Hanifah, it will be permitted to receive the same as rent.